Hello there! Sorry this took me a bit, I couldn't get it to upload for the longest time. Anyways, this is kind of a boring chapter, fair warning. See you guys at the end!

Ghost Hunt belongs to Fuyumi Ono.

I glowered at the door, daring someone to enter. I sat with my arms crossed; one leg crossed the other stretched out in front of me. My head was pounding by now and the room was completely blurred in my peripherals. This didn't faze me in the slightest; in fact it just made my mood worse. I grinned evilly, thinking of who might be the first to enter.

Finally after what seemed like a lifetime, the door opened slightly and Monk's head peered in. When he saw me his eyes widened and a smile broke out on his face, "Hey you're up!"

His happy mood dampened my sourness only slightly, "Well of course I am. I've been up for nearly two hours." The voice I managed made me smirk, oh yeah I sounded pure evil.

He quirked a brow at me, clearly wondering what was with me, "What's the matter Mai? Head hurting?"

I glared, obviously Monk.

"Aww, you're so cute when you're angry Mai!" He exclaimed, bringing me into a hug.

I didn't return it. Instead I tried to push him off, a low growl coming out. "GET OFF MONK," I screeched.

I think surprise made him let go of me, he leaned back and looked hard at me. His brown eyes studied me for a moment before he smiled, "I'll send Ayako with some pain killers, okay?"

"I don't care…" I muttered.

He laughed and ruffled my hair, making my head hurt worse.

I sent him a glare and he made his way to the door, "Yes, please leave."

Monk looked at me one more time and laughed, "Whatever you say growly bear!" With that he left.

My mood quickly became purely sour again, growly bear? "WHO YOU CALLING A GROWLY BEAR," I screamed, probably catching someone's attention. I hope I did.

Ayako came up soon enough after that, carrying a glass of water and two small pills, "Here, get out of your sourness."

I gave her a mildly surprised look.

"Oh Monk told us all about how his favorite person was being kind of a grizzly bear at the moment don't worry," she said with a small smirk.

I internally groaned, but simply scowled externally.

"Alright besides being grumpy how are you? Any soreness or burning?" She was going into doctor mode now.

I shrugged before temporarily giving up my sourness; temporarily. I gave her a sheepish look, "Well when I first woke up I tried to stand twice and fell both times, the first time on the ground the second on the bed."

She shot me a disappointed look, "Oh Mai… you're probably just making things worse." Having said that, she began unwrapping the bandage on my ankle.

I hated to admit it but it did look swollen when it hadn't before. I lowered myself to the bed, trying to be as small as possible.

When she had it fully unwrapped, she prodded and poked a few times; doctor face in place. Sitting back and rubbing her chin thoughtfully, Ayako gave me a chancing look. "Honestly," she said, "it looks to me like you someone knocked it out of place. I'm going to have to set it and it's going to hurt."

I shied away at the thought of pain, "How much time of pain?"

Ayako gave me a curious look before tilting her head back and forth, "It depends but probably 30 seconds to a minute."

I gulped; any time of pain was too much.

She smiled at me softly, like a mother would, "Do you want me to get someone so you can hold their hand?"

I nodded.

But as Ayako went to get up, the door opened and in walked none other than Naru. We both sat looking at him as he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.

"How is she Ms. Matsuzaki?"

I'm right here you know Naru, I thought bitterly.

Giving a sigh, Ayako told him everything she had discovered and how she was about to set my ankle. "I was just going to get someone to hold her hand while I set it when you walked in," she finished.

Naru seemed to be in thought so we waited for him to speak.

"There'll be no need, I'll do it just set it Ms. Matsuzaki," he said definitively.

I shared a shocked look with Ayako and then she shrugged, "Alright then, let's get this over with."

WHAT? I screeched in my head.

'OI,' Gene called, 'Some of us do try and sleep when given the chance!'

Sorry… I quickly apologized as Naru approached the bed, going around to the other side.

'What are you panicking for? You get to hold hands with Naru, it's what you've wanted since day one!' He pointed out sleepily.

I blushed as Naru sat on the bed, pulling himself onto the bed, back against the headboard, THAT'S NOT THE POINT!

Gene laughed.

Naru offered his hands to me and I gently took them, probably as red as a tomato. "Look at me," he murmured, noticing that my attention was wandering to my ankle.

My eyes snapped to him, my breathing picking up; I didn't like pain whatsoever. But as I looked at him, I began realizing I was seeing mild worry and yet amusement in his dark eyes. Then to my amazement a very small but comforting smile worked onto his face. I managed a small smile of my own to trade. It was calming to be looking at him, my breathing had almost returned to normal when an unbearable pain came from my ankle.

I cried out and snapped my eyes shut, squeezing Naru's hands tight. It hurt worse than when I had stood on it! That was all I felt for a long minute and then it slowly began to ebb away. It was then I realized one, I was crying and two, Naru was talking to me.

"Shh, it's alright now, it's over Mai…" he was saying gently.

It was also at this point that I realized I was clutching onto his abdomen, his hands rubbing my back.

'Aww,' Gene exclaimed, 'it's a Kodak moment!' Then he smirked, 'You'll be hugging him a lot when you're married though…'

I blushed harder if at all possible and shot back from him like I had been burned. I attempted to keep what dignity I had left in place as I turned away from him. "Thanks," I said curtly, "you can go now; I don't need you at the moment."

He hesitated but rose and walked toward the door, he looked back only once and in that glance I saw that his eyes were full of… hurt. Naru shook his head and slammed the door shut on the way out.

I flinched and then looked down guiltily. I did feel a little bad for that one.

'And as well you should,' Gene said, disappointment in his tone, 'you hurt him doing that one.'

I couldn't help myself as tears flooded my vision; I hated it whenever I did something that hurt others. Mother had taught me how deeply it can hurt and I always tried not to, not always succeeding.

I don't know how long I cried, or how long Ayako had been gone but it had to have been awhile. I didn't even know why I cried, was it guilt? Or was it something else?

Anyway I finally got myself up and dressed and decided I should head to base to check up on things, I had been away from everything more than long enough. My progress was slow however, my injured ankle making me limp heavily, even though Ayako had set it.

The pain was enough to stop me once I had gotten halfway down the stairs. I hated myself for being so weak. Suddenly the look Naru had given me before flashed in my mind and I immediately stood up and continued, despite the pain.

When I was maybe five steps from the bottom I felt an icy breath on the back of my neck. I stopped and stood there, knowing if I turned around I would see Momoru. "What do you want," I asked as evenly as I could.

I heard a throaty chuckle, "Please Mokimo… you must know by now."

What is he talking about? As I was racking my brain for some kind of answer I felt a hand push me forward, I was falling before I knew it. As I flew through the air, I managed to get myself leveled and I landed on my foot… with the bad ankle. I winced as I landed fully, ending up on my knees. It was then my mind processed everything and I realized Momoru had said something as I had been falling.

"Dearest Mokimo… I only wish for your death."

I shuddered and glanced at the empty stair well, no one. I groaned and held my ankle, just my luck to have the ghost confuse me with someone else and try to kill me… Using the hand rail, I pulled myself to my feet, ankle aching terribly. I don't care, I decided, I can't let this keep me down.

I slowly made my way to the base room, dragging my injured leg behind, not even wanting to lift it. I clenched my teeth as I got off the wall I had been using and had to walk on the leg. Every step was agony. Finally I got to the closed door and allowed myself a small smirk of victory.

Opening the door I forced myself to walk normally, with a little limp, into the room. Good thing I did too, everyone's eyes turned to me. I stopped and gave a small wave, nervous smile in place.

Everyone returned the gesture, with the exception of Lin and Naru, who was giving me a hurtful glare. Yep, I screwed that up.

'You can say that again…' Gene muttered.

I sighed and made my way over to the couch, "So what's going on guys?" I sat down heavier than I intended which made me wince. No doubt Ayako noticed.

Monk was the one who answered, "Right now we're waiting for Yasu to get here and share the info he gathered."

I nodded, so they were playing the waiting game, "Hope you don't mind my joining?"

They all shook their heads, smiles on their faces.

Monk hugged me, crying fake tears, "I'm so glad you're not a grizzly bear anymore Mai!"

My mood dropped, and I glowered at him, "That can quickly be changed Monk…" Oh yes, I was feeling the need to be sour again, especially with his idiocy around.

You made it! I'm amazed, this chapter was utterly boring. Sorry I didn't get as much sourness in as I wanted. I promise you more sour in the future. Thanks for reading!

~Ghosties